ALMOST 60,000 workers face redundancy just a day after Rishi Sunak’s mini-Budget promised to focus on “jobs, jobs jobs”.
Since March, 57,702 jobs have either been lost or put at risk as a result of store closures or major cut backs at high street retailers, manufacturers, airlines, and restaurants chains.
In the past 24 hours alone, almost 10,000 workers found out their jobs are at risk, with cuts announced at Boots and John Lewis today, while Rolls Royce has confirmed thousands have signed-up for voluntary redundancy.
And only this week, Burger King and Pret a Manager became the latest casualties warning of site closures and job cuts, with around 15,000 restaurant roles at risk across seven major chains since the start of the crisis.
It follows the chancellor’s pledge just yesterday to “protect, support and create jobs”.
Mr Sunak said in his statement: “I will never accept unemployment as an unavoidable outcome.”
He this week revealed a new £2billion “Kickstart Scheme”, which is aimed at finding work for 350,000 jobless 18- 24-year-olds.
He also said businesses that bring back furloughed staff will get a £1,000 bonus per employee from the government.
In addition, Mr Sunak announced one of the largest increases in front line Jobcentre staff today, doubling the number of work coaches to 27,000.
When it comes to helping to helping restaurants, the chancellor revealed that VAT will be slashed from 20 per cent to 5 per cent for businesses in the hospitality and tourism sectors in a bid to help companies bounce back.
Mr Sunak also revealed in his mini-Budget that restaurant and pub meals will be slashed in half from Monday to Wednesday during August.
The chancellor says these combined measures will create a £4billion saving for the hospitality and tourism sectors that will benefit over 150,000 businesses, as well as helping to protect 2.4 million jobs.
These industries have struggled during lockdown with pubs, restaurants and cafes only allowed to reopen on July 4 in England.
In Northern Ireland, these establishments were allowed to open from July 3, while in Scotland, beer gardens could reopen from July 6 and indoor restaurants can go back to business from July 15. Pubs and restaurants in Wales are due to reopen from July 13.
Below are some of the major firms to have announced closures and job losses since March 2020.
Boots – 4,000 jobs cut. Boots has today confirmed it is set to axe more than 4,000 jobs and shut 48 of its opticians branches.
The job cuts will affect around 7 per cent of the company’s workforce, and will particularly hit workers in its Nottingham support office. It will also affect some deputy and assistant manager, beauty adviser and customer adviser roles across its stores.
Burger King – 1,600 jobs at risk. Burger King boss Alasdair Murdoch has this week told the BBC’s Coronavirus Newscast podcast that the pandemic could force the chain to permanently close 10 per cent of its stores, putting 1,600 jobs at risk.
He said: “We don’t want to lose any [jobs]. We try very hard not to, but one’s got to assume somewhere between 5 per cent and 10 per cent of the restaurants might not be able to survive.
“It’s not just us – I think this applies to everyone out there in our industry.”
Cafe Rouge and Bella Italia – 1,900 jobs lost more than 1,900 jobs are set to be cut at Belgo, Bella Italia, Cafe Rouge and Las Iguanas.
The restaurants’ owner, the Casual Dining Group, said this month that it would shutter 91 of its 250 sites after calling in administrators in May.
Carluccio’s – 1,019 jobs lost. Carluccio’s fell into administration in March, after being on the edge of collapse when it was forced to close branches due to the coronavirus crisis. The Italian food chain, which had 71 branches and around 1,800 employees, appointed FRP Advisory as its administrator.
FRP Advisory ended up selling 31 Carluccio’s restaurants to Boparan Restaurant Group (BRG), which also owns Ed’s Easy Diner, in a move that saved more than 800 jobs. But around 40 restaurants closed for good, which left 1,019 staff without jobs.
Chiquito and Frankie & Benny’s – 4,500 jobs at risk. Chiquito’s owner, The Restaurant Group, called in administrators at the end of March when it confirmed 61 of its 80 restaurants would not open again. It is believed around 1,500 jobs were lost as a result.
In June, The Restaurant Group then said it was planning to close a further 125 sites – putting 3,000 jobs at risk.
The closures are expected across its Frankie & Benny’s, Chiquito’s, Coast to Coast, Garfunkel’s, Filling Station, Firejacks, and Joe’s Kitchen brands – although exact sites have yet to be confirmed.
This would leave the Group with 160 outlets, of which around 85 are still at risk if rent reductions and revised lease terms can’t be agreed on. But the Group’s 150 airport concessions and pub operations, as well as its around 150 Wagamama branches are unaffected.
John Lewis – 1,300 jobs at risk. John Lewis revealed today it is permanently closing eight of its stores, putting 1,300 jobs at risk.
A consultation process will now follow, with John Lewis saying it will make “every effort” to find new roles for affected staff who want to stay in the company.
Le Pain Quotidien – 200 jobs lost. Le Pain Quotidien went into administration in June. Administrators managed to secure a rescue sale to BrunchCo but 11 of Le Pain Quotidien’s restaurants closed for good, with 200 jobs lost.
Pret a Manger – 1,000 jobs at risk. Sandwich chain Pret a Manger announced this week that it’s set to permanently close 30 of its shops, putting at least 1,000 jobs at risk. It started a consultation process with employees this week with a final decision on job cuts to be made after this.
Pret has 410 shops in the UK, 339 of which have now reopened for takeaway and delivery – customers can now also dine-in at some of its larger sites.
Rolls Royce – 3,000 jobs at risk. Rolls Royce revealed in May that 9,000 jobs were at risk across its global workforce.
But it’s today confirmed that 3,000 workers in the UK have expressed interest in voluntary redundancy and early retirement. It expects around two-thirds of these workers to leave by the end of August.
